Facebook deletes anti-Semitic slurs

Comments such as “Jew rats” and “F****** Mercedes Jews” were removed from the social networking site after Vic Alhadeff, the CEO of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, had lodged a complaint.

Students from some of Sydney’s elite private schools had posted the messages, which included "support Holocaust denial" and a link to another internet site called “F*** Israel and their Holocaust bull****.”

One student said in Tuesday’s Sydney Morning Herald that there was “no intention of causing conflict or racial hatred." But Alhadeff told the newspaper that “Any comments which propose a racial stereotype are offensive.”

Dan Goldberg is a former national editor of the Australian Jewish News. He currently writes for Haaretz as well as The Jewish Chronicle in Britain. He is also a TV producer and writer for an independent TV production company.